Grand Piano Recording

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prestomation

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I have an absolutely beautiful grand piano(7' maybe?) that is just begging to be recorded. It's my mothers Stultz and Bower built in 1899(I could go on and on about it, but I digress..)
I've done some recording of it that I thought turned out well. Two SP B1's placed about a foot above the strings inside the piano, but i'm looking for a little more.

Amy Lee's piano on Evanescance's(yeah, i know, i know...) cd is just beautiful, in my opinion. How do you think they got that sound? Specifically, mic position? I only have budget equipment at my disposal, which I know is big disadvantage, but I must have that piano sound! Any tips?
 
prestomation said:
I have an absolutely beautiful grand piano(7' maybe?) that is just begging to be recorded. It's my mothers Stultz and Bower built in 1899(I could go on and on about it, but I digress..)
I've done some recording of it that I thought turned out well. Two SP B1's placed about a foot above the strings inside the piano, but i'm looking for a little more.

Amy Lee's piano on Evanescance's(yeah, i know, i know...) cd is just beautiful, in my opinion. How do you think they got that sound? Specifically, mic position? I only have budget equipment at my disposal, which I know is big disadvantage, but I must have that piano sound! Any tips?
Click to expand...

I highly doubt they mic'ed a real piano for Evanescance. Probley just some gigabye sample library. As for mic'ing, I've done some stuff on my girlfriend's baby-grand and have noticed it's best to back the mics a little to get some of the natural resonance of the piano. personally, I have the higher register mic backed a little bit further away so it's not so bright (the higher notes picked up better on my recording for some reason).

Just my 2 cents. Good luck.
 
prestomation said:
I have an absolutely beautiful grand piano(7' maybe?) that is just begging to be recorded. It's my mothers Stultz and Bower built in 1899(I could go on and on about it, but I digress..)
I've done some recording of it that I thought turned out well. Two SP B1's placed about a foot above the strings inside the piano, but i'm looking for a little more.

Amy Lee's piano on Evanescance's(yeah, i know, i know...) cd is just beautiful, in my opinion. How do you think they got that sound? Specifically, mic position? I only have budget equipment at my disposal, which I know is big disadvantage, but I must have that piano sound! Any tips?
Click to expand...
Well, it's either one of two things.
They either:

a) had exactly the right piano with exactly the right mics and pre's and processing gear, with an excellent engineer, in an exceptionally balanced but still live room, or

b) used a keyboard.

Their credits list both piano and keyboard, so it was probably a mix of both. Amy Lee didn't play either piano or keyboard on the album by the way...a guy by the name of David Hodges did.

The first thing to do is to accept the fact that you won't be able to get that exact same sound with your resources and experience. Once you accept that, then try and get as close as you can. Mic placement and all of that is important here, but I would say the absolute biggest factor is the room. If the room doesn't have good sonic qualities, then there's no way you're going to get close to what you want.
 
Well if you have a bad room for it and the mics pick up bad room ambience, the only thing for it is mic closer and closer until you eliminate the bad room ambience. If it sounds bad no matter where you place the mics in the close mic technique, then are you royally screwed and should resort to MIDI (gads!).
 
I use the Steinberg Grand VST which is (to my ears) great. But I prefer things to sound 'real' with warts and all. If your using the piano is a full band arrangement then yes samples are perfect but strip down the mix and they will be lacking. IMHO
 
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